Jim Ross On Why Vince McMahon Brought Him To WWE In 1994

On a recent episode of his podcast, “Grilling JR,” Jim Ross discussed a wide range of topics, including his WWE return in 1994, months after being released by the company. Here are the highlights:

On writing a letter to Vince McMahon after reports suggested he was disloyal: “[Heard about it in the] dirt sheets. It was printed everywhere, Conrad. And sometimes you have to — you get led into the deal where, ‘there’s smoke, there’s fire.’ And I heard it every day just about. You know, ‘JR wasn’t a team player, and he wanted to do things his way. And his ego was out of control.’

“So that’s where I heard that, and it became a news item. And I’m glad it happened then and not now, because now the guys are doing — you know, adding things to their websites daily. So I just had enough, enough was enough and I was getting through to the decision-maker. That’s why I decided to write the letter. Once I figured that out of curiosity at least, he would read the letter and let it absorb it to any degree that he chose.”

On asking McMahon for the WWF Magazine mailing list for his fan mail home business: “I remember I spilled my guts. Yeah, I needed a favor, I needed help. I had what I thought was a decent idea and a solution to the conundrum of less income coming in. But I think that letter gave Vince the idea, ‘Well you know, maybe I could use a guy with 23 years of experience and name identity and et cetera.’ And that would work out just fine, at least that’s what I hoped. And that did worked out. Because he saw that there was opportunity there. He was in a tough spot with the Feds and all that stuff. So I don’t know if it’s the right place at the right time, but my instincts told me that this is what I should do. So I went with my instincts and seemed to work out fine. In the long haul, it worked out great. I went into the friggin’ Hall of Fame in 2007. So wasn’t a bad idea because it worked. Any idea that works in pro wrestling is a good idea.”

On getting the call to come back to replace Art Donovan: “It took what, 30 seconds for me to say ‘Yes?’ But I was more prepared in cutting my own deal because I didn’t have an agent at that time. There was no Berry Bloom in my life. There should have been, I probably could have got a lot more money. But I thought I got what was fair and I was worth the price. And seemed like it worked out pretty well.”

On the initial agreement before he was back full-time: “I think it was through late summer into, past SummerSlam. And it included a SummerSlam, because I got a lot more money for working SummerSlam than I did the weekly stuff. So yeah, I guess all in all, it was about a two-month deal. It was the shortest contract I ever negotiated and signed, without question. But it’s also, I made more money on that SummerSlam than I normally made on several events.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the Grilling JR podcast with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.